The first sound you ever made wasn’t a cry, but a heartbeat, and it’s been telling the same story ever since. Each of us received the life force at our making and that same life force formed our bodies. Our hearts are the first organ to develop and they pump continuously until we make the transition to another form. Our human hearts reflect the heart of God. And our hearts reveal the emotions of God. As above, so below.

The grandmother, who as a schoolteacher, once nurtured children every day, can justify separating babies from their mothers, and this should terrify us all. How does a human heart travel from tenderness to atrocity? The distance is shorter than we think.

The heart doesn’t ask permission before it fills with rage, grief, or joy. But we can choose what happens next. The heart holds our joy and our grief, our merriment, and our anger. Such strong emotions are real and valid. Frequently we cannot choose our emotional state because of the circumstances around us. For example, in wonderful events such as the birth of a child or grandchild, our joy is uncontainable. Likewise, when someone steals from us, we are naturally incensed and angry. Joy and merriment are welcomed emotions, but anger and grief are not usually so welcome.

What if everything your heart clings to could be taken away tomorrow, except for one thing? While that isn’t true, it could be. But there is more to the story…

The heart not only holds our surface feelings, but our most compelling emotions: the passions. Many of our passions are positive, such as the passion for health, for giving, for loving the needy, for leading, etc. But we also hold negative passions such as rage, envy, fear, and vengeance in our hearts. The heart can easily overflow with love which pours into every cell of our being. Yet negative passions held in our heart cannot remain there without infecting our entire being.

We have all heard the saying, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” But is this true? The short answer is yes. But why?

Join us for this week’s reflections on “The Heart Center of Intelligence.”

All our lives we have heard to follow our hearts, but what if we did? The heart is a powerful force in our being. So, if we follow it, we are open to its emotions and pulls. But decisions made on emotion alone may be in error.